Turkey's authorities have issued detention warrants for 42 journalists, local media say, as part of an inquiry into a failed coup on 15 July, BBC informs. Prominent commentator Nazli Ilicak is said to be on the list. Ankara has not publicly commented on the claim.

The authorities have already detained or placed under investigation thousands of soldiers, judges and civil servants. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to purge state bodies of the "virus" that had caused the revolt. The Turkish government accuses cleric Fethullah Gulen of being behind the attempted coup which was led by the army.

Mr Gulen, who lives in the US, has strongly denied any involvement.

In a separate development on Monday, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warned that negotiations for Turkey's eventual membership of the EU would be suspended immediately if Ankara went ahead with a proposal to reintroduce the death penalty.